


and i would wait and watch the hours fall in a hundred separate lines

by nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)



Series: just let them REST alex [5]
Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Brief violence against a child, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Families of Choice, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Loss, Nightmares, Platonic Affection, Platonic Cuddling, Post-Rome, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reunions, Sad, Trauma, how to aggressively care about your friends by grizzop drik a. a., less graphic violence and more graphic emotional trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-03 07:22:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21175610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife
Summary: Grizzop and Sasha let go. They fall through the gate back into Rome, one week later, and only a little bit off from the experience.Azu, Hamid & Co fall through the gate back into Rome, six months later, greeted by an empty, dusty room and missing two of their friends.Oh, dear.





	1. we move along with some new passion knowing everything is FINE

**Author's Note:**

> fic and chapter titles are from new perspective by p!atd. im so pleased with myself. im also really sad. why did i write this. its so sad. i made the au where everyone lives sadder than the one where two of them die. chapter two is less sad! maybe! i havent actually written it yet as of typing this, but! probably will be less sad!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i couldn't choose between grizzop's POV or sasha's POV and i didn't even seperate them out. i just. smooshed both of their thoughts into it at once. so. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Grizzop and Sasha don’t remember letting go. Grizzop remembers looking up and seeing the hand of a _ god_, Sasha remembers gripping Bi Ming’s hand tight and hoping that Eldarion knows what she’s doing. They both get spat back out of the gate and land on their feet. Or at least, what they think are their feet, and it takes a second for Sasha to realize that her arms aren’t stretched across the distance of a continent anymore, and it takes Grizzop a minute to remember what it feels like to have your body be so compacted.

Einstein pops out from inside a vase; an _ amphora _ Grizzop thinks, the thought a relic from some long forgotten history lecture, and tells them that they’ve been gone a week. It’s hard to process, but it’s harder when they look around realize that there are only three of them. Ten, reduced to three. Grizzop feels out of breath and Sasha feels like her heart is being squeezed, and they look at Einstein. Their eyes plea for him to give them an explanation that isn’t what they know it is. He looks back, apologetic.

They set up camp. Einstein has been looking into a way to teleport safely, he just needs some time, and they both know why they’re reluctant to leave. Maybe, if they just wait long enough, their friends will come tumbling out. After all, they’ve proven time works weirdly here, right?

Eventually, Einstein is ready. He tells them, in his gentle way, that if they are back and the others aren’t there is very little chance for the others to make it back. He tells them the fact that they’re physically intact is quite impressive. He smiles awkwardly and tells them that it’s important to look on the bright side of things, even if the things are all horrible and shitty, and Sasha appreciates the attempt. 

They teleport back to Cairo. Grizzop breaks the news to Hamid’s family, and he watches as Saira crumples, and then pulls herself together. Grizzop doesn’t think about Vesseek. He doesn’t think about their first night back in Cairo, when Sasha had climbed out of the window and hadn’t returned until just before dawn, something that might’ve been tear tracks down her face. Sasha said nothing about the matching ones on his. She climbed into his bed and he held her hand tightly. Neither of them fell back asleep.

They get the name of Azu’s village from the temple of Aphrodite, and Einstein teleports them there next. It doesn’t take long to find Azu’s family. They’re welcomed in, and Grizzop’s chest hurts as he tells them that Azu is likely dead. They offer to let Grizzop and Sasha stay, but neither of them feel right, in a space that feels so much like Azu. It hurts. And there’s work to do.

The riots spread. The plague begins. London falls. Grizzop and Sasha join the Resistance. (What else could they do?) A mercenary band of two. (They never could manage to fill the holes Azu and Hamid left. No one fit quite right. After a while, they stopped trying. The trust they have in each other is enough.

(When either of them walk through rooms, conversation stops. There’s an aura about them, some trace of twisted and warped magic. Most people can’t quite place it. The feeling that follows them, like somehow you’re being compressed and expanded all at once, like the air around you is heavier and the smell of ozone sits on your tongue. As if you can suddenly feel the distance of planes between your teeth or the weight of moons on your chest.)

(Einstein doesn’t mind it. He’s used to the presence of a spell-gone-wrong, even if his is different. But it doesn’t help them make friends, exactly. Sasha takes to traversing the shadows of HQ. Grizzop just smiles widely at the people who stare, and they look away quickly.)

Einstein still visits Rome occasionally. But the Resistance grows, and his skills are needed. There’s only so much time to grieve during a war (a plague? The word doesn’t matter. The effect is the same. For them, at least.)

(When word reaches them that London has fallen, Sasha doesn’t know how to feel. She’s been across the world, now, found friends, found a family. But she grew up a gutter thief in Other London. It was awful. But it was hers.)

(Grizzop watches the Cults begin to falter. There’s only so much they can do. Eventually the riots reach Amsterdam. He remembers the woods that surrounded the Temple he’d grown up in, and tries not to think about it.)

Months pass. Things get worse, as things do. Grizzop grows to hate the color blue. Sasha never gets any better at people, but she learns to recognize the signs. They cling to each other as they desperately try to stop the world from falling apart.

Wilde goes underground, but not before Grizzop and Sasha ensure they have a way of contacting him. For emergencies. (He’s an asshole. But he’s also a friend- and in these times, some would say friends are more valuable than gold.)

When he comes back from a mission with a raised and bloody scar on his cheek and a haunted look in his eyes, Grizzop drags him away from his research. Holds him down while Sasha pours tea down his throat, and the two of them listen as he tells them what happened. (Not all of it. But enough. They understand. He snaps at them later for their _ brutish ways _ and they know he’s back. As much as anyone can be.)

At some point, Zolf offers Wilde his assistance. Or maybe Wilde finds him, wandering alone, looking for work and grateful for the help. They fight over the story like an old married couple, and Grizzop leans over to Sasha.

“You’re _ sure _ they’re not together,” he asks, not bothering to lower his tone. Neither of them notice.

“Not yet, but I give it a week,” she replies, and pulls some jerky out of her bag. Zolf has stood up on the chair to get into Wilde’s face, and Grizzop puts his boots up and accepts the jerky Sasha offers him.

(Sasha catches Wilde trying to sneak out of Zolf’s room early in the morning, seven days later. He is holding a book that has CAMBELL written on the side in large script, and the look on his face makes Sasha think of Hamid, on a sky-ship.

“If you hurt him, I’ll stab you in places you didn’t know you had,” she says.

Wilde’s startled jump is still satisfying, all these months since their first meeting. She melts back into the shadows before he can respond. She doubts he'll actually hurt Zolf. He isn’t quite that stupid. They fit well together, like a well made gear trap. But still.)

It’s been six months. People are dead or worse and the world has gone to shit, but Azu, Hamid, and five other people stumble out of a gate into an empty, dust filled room in Rome and they don’t know anything more than Einstein is gone and their friends are- missing.

It’s confusing. And awful. And the journey out is so much worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmmm so i'm rereading and i don't think i made zolf's being ace as obvious as i should have so minor edits there. they did in fact spend most of the night with zolf shoving harrison cambell novels in oscar's face while insisting they are INCREDIBLE and oscar reading them with increasing sarcasm.


	2. but I regain repose and wonder how I ended up inside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nevermind i lied the second chapter is sad also. in fact i think this is more sad. i made myself actually cry a little so? sorry? and you're welcome?

Six months (five minutes) later, Hamid falls out of the gate. Azu and Ed and the hostages follow, and all that greets them is a cold, empty, dust filled room.

“Something’s wrong, Azu,” Hamid says, and his voice is shaking. Grizzop isn’t here. Sasha isn’t here. Eldarion isn’t here.

Azu remembers the feeling of a small hand slipping out of hers, and that means- that means-

That means that two of their friends are dead- missing. _ Missing _ . It was a _ planar shift _ spell, and the whole _ point _ of planar shift is _ transportation _ and Hamid is sure if they can _ just_\- just find _ someone_, they can get them back. Hamid knows it’s not a good chance. It’s a very bad chance, in fact, especially considering Einstein isn’t here and Eldarion is gone and there is a _ lot _ of dust and Azu wonders quietly aloud how long they’ve been gone. But. But it isn’t _ zero_.

Without Einstein, they’ll have to make their way out of Rome by themselves. Bi Ming has a few small daggers hidden about his person, but he’s hardly armored. Vesseek has a determined look on their face and takes the sword Azu offers them and clutches it tightly. Ed and his mace, of course, shine like a beacon, although even he’s subdued at their losses.

Azu hands Emeka one of her throwing axes, and he accepts it grimly. They don’t leave right away- this is one of the few places Azu can heal them all, that’s safe from the invisible- _ whatevers_. They camp in the house on the hill for the night, and head out in the morning.

There’s no easy way to keep the hostages safe with them while they travel. Eventually, after some argument, they decide to keep the weakest in the middle- Bi Ming, Ishak- and surround them with the others- Emeka, Vesseek. Ed, Azu, and Hamid lead the way.

It’s awful. There’s no escape from the extreme temperatures, and within a week they all have some light burns from the heat that Azu worries will never go away fully. It hurts her, watching her friends, her brother, _ innocent people_, in pain. There’s nothing she can do except move forward. The black blood of the horrible dog-things eventually stains her axe permanently. The pink glow isn’t gone, but the dimness of it feels horribly apt.

Hamid feels _ useless_. He can feel his magic under his skin, wanting _ out_, wanting to be _ cast_, but he knows he’s more likely to cause an explosion than do anything productive. He watches his little brother learn how to run, learn the best way to duck out and hide from a fight without drawing more attention to himself. When Ishak’s luck finally runs out and a beast scratches him along the arm, blood gushes and he screams. Hamid’s mind goes white with rage, and he can feel his hands morphing into claws. When he comes back to himself, he’s covered in scratches and blood- but not all of it is his. They keep moving. 

It takes- a long time. Maybe a month, but it’s impossible to gauge time here, where the sun is always red and never sets. The first time Hamid catches sight of the sky, the _ normal _ sky, blue and white and _ not red_, he cries. Little by little, they leave the border of Rome behind.

(They don’t run into anyone from the Cult of Mars. Hamid doesn’t know whether he’s more relieved or worried by that.)

(Azu feels the rush of connection with Aphrodite, and she feels like crying. Instead, she lays her hands on every one of her companions, until she has no more healing left to give, and it feels like the ropes holding her back have snapped. Their scars remain- scratches and burns and other marks, not even counting the ones that aren’t physical- but Azu can _ help _ them now. She can _ heal _ them.)

The first time they run into a person with horrible blue veins bulging from beneath their skin, Azu cleaves them in half with her axe. The creature goes down immediately, but its scream alerts others they hadn’t noticed, and before they know it, they’re swarmed. Hamid flies into the air and looses fireball, again and again, and with the help of the two paladins, the swarm is dealt with.

Not soon after, they find a town full of scared looking people that refuse to talk to them. Hamid charms the innkeeper, who shows them the date- _ seven months_! They’ve been gone _ seven months _ (and three weeks and fourteen days, but none of them are counting) and that fact is dizzying enough. But the innkeeper tells Hamid about the blue veined plague that swept through Europe, that overwhelmed London and France, and tells him that if they’re looking for a safe place, their bet is to head to Africa- Cairo especially.

Hamid thanks them and tells the group. Admits that he wants to check in on his family. Tells Azu that they could continue on to Kenya from there.

No one objects.

  


One week later, they wake up, still drowsy from poison, in cells. Hamid registers darkness and the smell of metal and he leaps to protect Ishak. Azu grabs the bars and _ pulls _ and glares at them when they refuse to move.

Zolf steps forward and Hamid shrieks in surprise. He looks different, healthier and sadder all at once. He tells them they have to stay in a cell for a week, that there’lll have to be _ inspections _ and Hamid screams at him.

After, his throat is hoarse, and he hugs Ishak close and holds Azu’s hand and tries to be rational. Of course they need to wait and verify their identities. They’ve appeared out of nowhere and in this new hell-world _ seven months into the future _ this is normal. It’s fine.

It doesn’t work very well.

Azu gets restless quickly. The cell is big enough to fit her comfortably, but it’s still small. Enclosed. She tries not to take it out on Hamid, instead glaring viciously at the dwarf- Zolf. He looks apologetic, but he makes no move to let them out.

The week passes with excruciating slowness.

Once, Hamid thinks he sees a movement in the shadows that reminds him painfully of Sasha. But it’s gone almost as soon as it was there, and he’s been in this cell for six days, and he ignores it. Ishak is having another nightmare, and he has more important things to focus on as he gently shakes his younger brother awake. (He makes sure not to disturb the angry red scars on Ishak’s arm as he does so.)

_ (Sasha sneaks into the cell that Hamid and Azu are being held in and watches them wake up. Hamid stands protectively over his little brother and she notices how much more of him is covered in scales. She can hear a faint growling. Azu tries to pry the bars apart and there’s less sparkle in her expression than Sasha remembers. Her armor is dented and dirty and she seems. Sharper. _

_ On her way out, she notices the shine of Grizzop’s eyes in a nearby shadow. They share a look. It hurts. They can’t afford to hope. And yet-) _

It’s been a week, Zolf says. We’re underneath an inn, and you can help yourself to anything- take your time, he tells them. Azu is in no mood to thank him. But he doesn’t leave. Instead, he shifts awkwardly.

“I... don’t know how much you know about what happened to Grizzop and Sasha,” he says, and Hamid’s heart stops. Azu locks her eyes with his and stares intensely, and the tension in the room rackets up.

“I, uh. I think it’d be better for them to tell you, actually,” he says, and then flees the room.

When Sasha steps forward from a corner, shoulders hunched awkwardly, playing with a dagger, Hamid gasps wetly. Grizzop follows her, and waves at them.

It isn’t a graceful reunion. Azu scoops all of them into a hug and squeezes until their ribs start creaking. There are tears- a _ lot _ of tears. Grizzop thinks _ thank you Artemis_ and Sasha thinks _ maybe this is what luck feels like _ and Hamid and Azu think _ I’m so glad you’re alive _ and _ I was so worried_. 

  
They all think _ I’m so glad I haven’t lost more family_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it doesn't actually take that long to get out of rome. probably. but magical fuckery and angst make it so.  
also. i wrote a little bit about cel's reactions to grizzop and sasha and also i Love cel very much so??? i may have to write an epilogue of cel meeting the group for the first time. hmmmm. it'll probably be more of a drabble than an actual chapter but. i love my crazy alchemist child so....


	3. we still respect the time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> like i said, less of a chapter and more just. an in-universe drabble that wouldnt leave me alone

Cel first meets Sasha in the pouring rain, as she’s about to stab them. Later, she will protest, _nonfatally!_

Cel first meets Sasha in the pouring rain, and when they meet her eyes, they feel something like waves crashing on their teeth, and if there’s anything they’re familiar, it’s what magic that’s gone a bit sideways feels like. 

Of course, they go more for the mechanical bits usually, but you can’t be an alchemist and _not_ do dangerous experiments with magic, as they’ve always said, and it feels like Sasha’s certainly an interesting person. 

Cel first meets Grizzop after the fight’s ended, and they’re both soaking wet. They notice his bow and admire the craftsmanship, despite the lack of metal enhancements they would have gone for. They shake hands, and Cel feels their ribs go all twisty. 

That feeling runs through all their bones like a ghost-shiver, and they see Grizzop tense, for a second. Cel smiles widely. They like his style, and don’t hesitate in telling him so. 

They feel even more confident in this decision when he beats them to yelling _let’s go!_ to the rest of the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, i am strongly implying sasha/cel/grizzop. i stand by it

**Author's Note:**

> chapter two will be posted sometime tomorrow 💖💖


End file.
